Again with your passionate response
, I lost count the amount of instances in that response where you brought up friends.
And am I getting a brush that you're insinuating that I dislike online games? If so you're mistaken.
And again you ignore the fact that the TES series have never been about anyone beyond one sole individual having sweeping effects on the world.
If you want another social medium THAT is all your looking for don't sugar coat it, there are a myriad of sixy games that do this. Never did I say it impossible to enjoy a game with a friend of course you can, that's your friend and obviously the game you enjoy. But you are not ignoring your friend, they are there for a reason. You shouldn't need a friend to play any TES game never did I imply multiplayer games are bad, and yes co-op is adding to the game, while other parts of it suffers, and of course D&D was a multiple person affair, otherwise Its be no different from daydreaming. We are in a new time unfortunately where our minds do not need to work as much and where games serve as a reprive from the hustle and bustle of the real world don't faux some divine truth that having a friend will immerse you into the game further, that's near backwards thinking if you really look at what your saying.
I don't see the logic in, if I am with my friends who are of my real life in skyrim, I will be more immersed in skyrim.
Notice I'm actually discussing enjoyably I might add rather than saying lolz! U lose skyrimz is SP pointless thread is pointless. Or whatever you've come to expect on the Internet these days or human nature for that matter.
I think you are still missing the core of my argument.
First, you keep mentioning online. To be clear, I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT ONLINE ANYTHING OR MMO, I AM SOLELY TALKING ABOUT A FORM OF DROP IN DROP OUT COUCH CO-OP. I am not against other forms of co-op if they can be accomodated, but this one is the most simple, basic, and in some ways the most enjoyable when one has a friend who one wishes to play with.
The games would still be about enjoying the sweeping effects of the world, it would merely allow you to share that experience with a friend. All the core aspects would still be the same. Mandatory co-op would be a restriction, and I would never advocate it. Mandatory singleplayer is also a restriction. It does not add anything to gameplay that you cannot play with a friend.
There are only a few current gen RPGs with good co-op, and that is what we are talking about. I don't give a damn that call of duty offers it, I don't play call of duty, I don't Like FPS games, I almost exclusively play games that have wizards, elves, monsters and the like, and I like to play those with friends., I like to explore with my friends, just as I would in real life. If I was offered the chance to venture into a world of magic and mystery and danger and grand adventures, I would DEFINITELY want a friend along with me. I think most people would. Most humans ( and lots of other mammals frankly, and even birds and fish) preffer to go into the unknown with a little companionship.
And yes, it certainly can immerse you more in the game to have a friend along. Your Friend becomes PART of the game, that is what you seem unable to recognize. Once your friend takes on that character, dons that helm or those robes, chooses a race. . . they are part of the ES world like you yourself are. Will you look at their character? Will you take note of the spells they favour? Will you comment on the weapons they choose or the armour they don? Of course. You do the same thing with all of the NPCs in the gaming world, Don't you? That is part of the experience. The leap forward in console and computer games was removing the need for the DM. The idea was never to remove the ability to play with friends. The benefit is that you don't HAVE to have a friend, relative, significant other or neighbor on hand in order to play your favourite game, NOT that you would be forever forbidden from enjoying such a game with another living human being.
The AI companions the games offer are but a pale immitation of what a real friend playing alongside you would be. For all the objections, all a good drop in/drop out co-op would essentially do, is take the AI companions theseries already makes available to you, and make that companion customizable, able to level up, and under the control of one of your real life friends, via the second controller. It would certainly add to immersion over the AI idiots you generally end up with. I had to create a spell, which I dubbed "damned fool's salvation" which both rendered my AI companion invisible AND put a charm spell on the strong enough to make a Dremora Valkynaz hop into bed with you (well. . . I was able to make them be friendly and not attack, at any rate). Why? Because I couldn't pass an enemy that the moronic companion didn't want to fight. We could be invisible and sneaking past a band of Minotaur Lords and the dummy would break the spell, and go charging out to fight to the death. I'm an Archmage between levels 37 and 55, the enemies are scaled up to level ridiculous, the AI companion is WAY overmatched. . . so I have to jump into the fight and kill everything before everything can kill the companion. Not part of my original plan. A REAL companion, controlled by a real friend, could confer with me about what we were going to do. If they were overmatched in a fight, they could hang back and be a distraction, or take on some of the lesser minoions of a serious foe, while I dealt with the ring leader etc.
The game is more immersive and more realistic because you approach it with your friend the way you would approach real life situations. You can actually convey your plans and wishes to a friend and vice versa, and then the pair of you can act out your joint plans and ideas in the game. It does not break immersion, it allows for a fuller immersion. Your belief, if you will, is enhanced by the presence of a fellow believer. Any psychologist will tell you that one's belief in something, be it a faith or a phantasm, is generally strengthened by the support of others who share that belief. It would be, as has been said, optional at all times. But let us not pretend that it would somehow instantaneously break the realism of the game, or that it could not possibly enhance anyone's experience of the game.